


Picking Flowers: An Anthology

by marshmallons



Series: Picking Flowers: An Anthology [2]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Explicit Sexual Content, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 10:03:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18689269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marshmallons/pseuds/marshmallons
Summary: A collection of oneshots and standalone mini-fics.





	Picking Flowers: An Anthology

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> HANAHAKI: Unrequited love, pining, masturbation.

Seto saw it in the way Atem looked at him.

Soft eyes, an even softer smile.

It was the way Seto wanted Atem to look at him.

The touches were more obvious. The hand that rested lightly on Yugi’s shoulder carried more weight than it would appear, and Seto’s sharp gaze never missed the way that Atem’s knuckles skimmed down the line of Yugi’s back before his hand fell innocently to his own side. 

They had been two halves of the same soul at one point. 

How the hell could he ever become something more meaningful than that?

Seto’s head pounded. Exhaustion had seduced him into bed, but his head continued to buzz in a flurry of activity; thoughts about Atem, about Yugi, about Atem—

The white numbers on the clock on his bedside table danced in his vision. 

4:28

_There’s no point in even trying to sleep now. Besides—_

Every time he closed his eyes, he couldn’t see anything but Atem.

With Yugi.

Frenetic energy thrummed under his skin; he was restless without reason, as if he had taken a ristretto before bed, as if caffeine even did anything to him after years and years of building up a resistance. 

His hands were cool and smooth over his skin as he experimentally caressed down the length of his torso, hands roaming over his own flat pectoral and thumbing over his soft nipple, entirely unenticing—

—until he pictured Atem’s hands, warm and bronzed and strong, and electric sparks danced over his skin like a live wire.

He wanted those hands on his body. He wanted Atem’s lips on his own, kissing, coaxing; shy at first but gaining in confidence until they were pressed together, unable to keep from palming one another and sliding sneaky hands beneath pesky shirts and far too many belts. 

Seto skimmed his index finger along the palpable vein in his erection, leading up to the sensitive, untouched tip of his dick. He wrapped his fingers around his shaft with a stifled moan, afraid that if he made even a single sound, the spell and the moment would be broken; it was just himself and Atem in this fantasy, in the private space and solace of his own thoughts—

He wanted to sink to his knees in front of his pharaoh, to take him into his mouth, hot and thick and heavy, to look up at Atem through his eyelashes and a mouth stuffed with cock. 

Seto tightened his grip with a soft hitch of his breath, jerking himself harder. He wanted and he wondered, wondered whether Atem would groan and gaze down at him adoringly ( _god,_ how he wanted Atem to look at him like that, the way that he looked at—) or whether Atem would be quiet and controlled, talking him through it with a steady voice, that _rich_ deep voice, the one that made shivers drip down Seto’s spine like the precome dripping down the length of his cock— 

He heatedly thought of Atem, pictured him propping himself up onto an elbow and sliding a hand into Seto's hair, fingernails raking against his sensitive scalp, whispering praises while he guided Seto’s head up and down, up and down, each thrust accompanied by a grunt and the lewd squelch of his mouth and tongue.

It became increasingly difficult to keep himself silent. Seto’s torso heaved with silent panting and repressed moans; he could practically taste Atem on his tongue, the taste of skin and precome, salty and heavy and addictive. 

He wanted to taste Atem’s come coating his tongue; he _ached_ with need, felt his hard cock twitch in his own hand. He wanted it as badly as he wanted Atem’s hands on his hips, guiding them back to meet the snap of his thrusts. 

Seto had never fingered himself, but he was nearly dizzy with force of arousal that swept over him as he thought of Atem’s fingers breaching him, preparing him for his cock; Atem would press kisses to the jut of his hipbone, distracting him from the stretch and dull ache of four fingers inside his hole, stroking against his slick walls, finding and pressing into the sensitive spot inside him that made him tense every muscle and cry out his name.

_Atem._

And Atem would moan his name in return. He would press the blunt tip of his cock against Seto’s slick, stretched out hole and push inside, burying himself to the hilt, and breathe Seto’s name so softly, so sweetly, like a prayer. Fervent, urgent moans and praise would spill from his mouth until he silenced himself with Seto’s lips, kissing him, and Seto could tangle his fingers into his hair, touching him, holding him close to himself, never letting go— 

(Not the way that Yugi let him go, _because he didn’t love Atem the way that_ he _did—_ )

Hot tears began to build behind Seto’s closed eyes. He hadn’t touched himself in so long, and he was edging, pushing himself to the brink, before denying himself, not ready to come until he had fantasized about every single way that he could come, they could come, _together_. 

Seto’s legs fell apart and he sighed, squeezing, gripping himself until his cock ached and pleasure tipped over into pain. 

He wanted, yearned, craved, needed. He wanted so badly, wanted Atem, and in his fantasy, Atem would want him too. 

He would lean down over Seto, drawing their faces close, side by side, to lick the shell of his ear and whisper just how much he desired him, _loved_ him—

Seto came with a garbled cry.

His come dripped over his abdomen, splashing hot and wet on his fingers. Seto’s chest rose and fell steadily as he recovered his breathing, face flushed and damp with perspiration, and he ached for the sensation of Atem collapsing onto him, equally euphoric, pressing the lengths of their slick, naked torsos together, spilling his come inside.

Seto’s head lolled to the side and his hazy vision made out the numbers on the face of the clock.

4:41

By this hour, they should be long asleep, wrapped in one another. Atem liked to touch— congratulatory pats on the shoulder, unwitting touches, brushes of his knuckles on the back of someone’s hand. He would be affectionate in the afterglow, touching and kissing and caressing with quiet murmurs of praise. 

Seto rested a hand over his collarbone and swept his fingertips over his clavicle, rolling a palm over the ball of his shoulder, the swell of his bicep, but the spark was gone. It was just his own hand, his own touch; cool and smooth and unmistakably his.

Loneliness invaded the hollow of his body that pleasure had occupied just minutes before; euphoria ebbed and slowly gave way to the crippling realization that he was all alone, just as he always had been, just as he always would be.

He had done the impossible for someone who had eyes for only one person. He had known he made a mistake the very second that he returned from between the dimensions, from the afterlife, with Atem in tow— and watched him rush into Yugi’s expectant arms, marvelling over the connection and sensation of touch in his newly corporeal form. 

Seto’s stomach had sank past the floorboards and he knew in that moment that mourning Atem would have been a preferable reality to pining after him. He had cursed himself to watching Atem fawn over Yugi and had inadvertently reunited the two of them— he had all but pushed Atem directly into Yugi’s arms. 

_(Yugi, who just let him walk into the afterlife, ready and willing to let him disappear forever. Seto never would have allowed him to leave—)_

Seto’s confession hadn’t been enough to keep Atem from seeking Yugi. It was the biggest mistake of his life, second only to bringing Atem back in the first place. 

He had never regretted doing anything as much as he did when he watched the look of surprise and distress bloom over Atem’s features. That expression haunted him. 

He never should have opened his mouth. 

_“Seto, I...I didn’t know you felt so strongly. I’m afraid I...I’m in love with Yugi.”_

_Seto reeled. His head spun. He had always known, on some level, that that was the truth, that it was Atem and Yugi, and no room left for him, but to hear it spoken out loud— it felt as if the wind had been punched out from his lungs._

_An ugly sensation burst in his chest and he found a bitter, ugly laugh lodged somewhere in between his ribs; cold and desolate someplace in the hollow of his body. He bared his teeth in a snarl._

_“You think I meant that? As if. It was a joke, loser. You’ve been around for millennia— you should know a taunt when you hear one.”_

_But he could hear it in his own acerbic voice, and Atem looked uncertain._

_“Kaiba, you said you l—”_

_“Don’t say it. Don’t you dare say it, or I’ll hate you forever.”_

_Seto’s vision blurred with rage, and he choked on his words, struggling to spit them out past the thick, gnarled lump in his throat._

_He sounded angry enough to break a heart._

_“I want nothing to do with you.”_

_He would only break his own._

Seto should have known better than to open his mouth. 

Blood coursed through his veins sluggishly. Exhaustion sank its hooks into him, sinking down to the marrow of his bones. His thoughts began to slow, body lulled into a quiet, peaceful state, for the first time in the first seventy-two hours since his greatest regret.

Seventy-two hours since he had let Atem know that he wanted him. Seventy-two hours since Seto learned with finality that it didn’t matter what he wanted. 

He wanted Atem. 

And Atem wanted Yugi.

They were made for one another.

Seto had never even stood a chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for @nsfwnoses ❤

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry that I've been so inactive....I promise I'm still around, I'm just desperately struggling through finals. I hope these mini-fics can make up for the long pause between updates in the meantime ❤
> 
> Comments are especially appreciated during these difficult times!
> 
> [tumblr fics](http://setokaibaes.tumblr.com/tagged/kaibae-writes) 
> 
> [ko-fi](http://ko-fi.com/setokaibaes)


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